The Gambia ICT for Development Policy (ICT4D) 2018-2028

OBJECTIVE

To aggressively modernize and transform the relatively low-income agriculturally dominated and industrially weak economy of the Gambia into a relatively high-income information-rich, knowledge-based, and technology-driven economy and society within the next 20 years.

CONTENT

The Specific Objectives of the ICT4D, its Priority Areas and Broad Strategies include the following:

• To aggressively ensure the accelerated development of the Gambia in the emerging technological age.
• To target the development of the Gambia’s private sector to serve as an engine for propelling Gambia’s development with the potential to develop into a highly competitive ICT-led value-added and export-oriented sector.
• To prioritize the rapid development of the requisite human capital, skills, and expertise to meet the requirements of a modern and changing economy.
• To develop and modernize Gambia’s agriculture sector and develop a dynamic and vibrant export-oriented agro-business industry.
• To prioritize the implementation of e-government systems, processes, and procedures targeted at: improving the efficiency of the delivery of government and social services; reducing the operational costs of government and public institutions, and bringing government closer to the people.
• To promote the extensive use of ICTs and other emerging educational development and delivery technologies at all levels of the Gambian educational system to modernize and transform its operations, processes, and deliverables that can position the sector as a key driver of the nation’s development process in the 21st century.
• To position and empower the development of tertiary and higher education in the Gambia to serve as a key instrument and engine for facilitating accelerated and sustainable economic and social development in the information, knowledge, and technological age.
• To transform the Gambia’s tertiary and higher education system into a dynamic subsector capable of: (i) being responsive to technological advances and to the nation’s socio-economic development goals and aspirations and (ii) contributing to providing the requisite educational, and training services and environment for producing the right types of skills, competency, and expertise required for developing and driving the Gambia’s information and knowledge-based economy and society in the emerging technological age.
• To support the development of the Gambia’s research and development (R&D) and science, technology, and innovation (STI) capacity and capabilities to meet the changing needs and requirements of the key sectors of the economy to propel the Gambia into an information and knowledge-based high-tech export-orientated modern technology-driven industrial and services dominated economy.
• To create the enabling, facilitating, and technology-neutral regulatory environment for promoting an advanced ICT and broadband infrastructure development, deployment, and roll-out.
• To promote open access and universal access services to support the development of the Gambia information economy and society.
• To prioritize Youth development and empowerment initiatives, targeting modern skill development and job creation policy measures, interventions, and initiatives aimed at encouraging and facilitating the active and productive involvement of the youth in playing a transformative role in the nation’s development: economically, socially, culturally and politically through the appropriate use of modern empowering and enabling 21st-century technologies and resources.
• To create the enabling environment to support and encourage the development and the empowerment of women to play a critical role in the nation’s development efforts in the emerging information, knowledge-base, and technological age.
• To promote cyber security initiatives that ensure secure access to the nation’s public and private ICT infrastructure, systems, and services including those related to national.